If you click “PROCEED?,” it takes you to what’s called “Terminal 111 Spine,” which is a mysterious looking page with a series of question marks.

At the top it says, “You bring nothing but pain.” If you click on some of the question marks, you’ll see that they link to further pages in the puzzle. Most of them appear to be “dead ends,” however, as they often lead to this page:

For one of the links, on the other hand, this is not the case. It leads to a page called “Terminal 111 Heart,” which has text like this:

The Terminal is infected.

The ??? is infected.

The Brain is infected.

The Eyes are infected.

At the end of the page is a giant heart:

Nonetheless, it seems you can’t progress any farther from this page. Going back to the “Spine” page, there are several other links too, each of which says “This is nothing.”

Each of these leads to pages with flickering colored backgrounds, so they’re basically dead ends too. Of course, I haven’t even begun to cover the whole thing here.

There are three other “terminals” I’ve come across so far, which I’ll show previews of here:

You might wonder (as I have) what the point of all this is; I’m sure many people who have explored the website have thought the same thing. As Angus himself writes in the FAQ:

“The story I am writing, the webpages I’ve created, and all the rest have been created to further elucidate a truth I wish to reveal. To bestow that understanding I must pass along a message I have received or otherwise remembered: a warning by another name; although, there’s nothing to be done with this warning. Everyone already knows what I mean. It’s etched within all of us, upon us, and so on and so forth.”

That’s one reason that this puzzle has intrigued me so much; it seems to have either a spiritual or an apocalyptic subtext that I haven’t figured out yet. Obviously, I’m not re-dedicating my blog to this, but I’ll return to it from time to time.

As I said, if anyone else has clues or thoughts to contribute, feel free to leave them in the comments! (Especially if you make it farther than I did.)

Is it ironic that a clearnet site has been so fascinating to me lately? Don’t worry, I’ll get back to the dark web shortly, but I wanted to further explore this site a little.

On its homepage, there are a number of links to further sections of the site. For instance, if you click the glowing “text” below the scrolling message at the top, that takes you to another page, entitled “OPEN THE GATE.”

On this page, there are several different links. The two images in the center lead further into the “maze,” if you will, plus there are the three “menu options” below: “Altar,” “Terminal Connect,” and “Sacrifice.”

The top image leads to a page called “Sol_onsetx,” which, like the earlier pages, has distorted audio and flashing red lights (I think some of these pages may need a seizure warning).

Sol_onsetx contains a poem of sorts:

It reads:

Nothing can escape the truth.

Since, in sooth, distinctions,

walls of severance all…

Never existed in this, our hallowed, ever borrowed-

Hall.

Now, take it all off at once!

There is no in-between.

Either we all fall, or it turns

about another way, so that, one other day, another

may say:

“Let us now, in respect to our err for being, pay.”

Sol onset, sol onset…

There is yet another way…

What does it mean? I’m not sure, but it could be a reference to death, because “our hallowed, ever borrowed-Hall” could mean the human body, or our planet, which are both temporary. And “sol” in Latin means “sun,” so “sol onset” could be a reference to coming of light, or coming of day.

What do you think, guys? I’d like to hear your interpretations.

The second image on the “open the gate” page leads to yet another page with a poem, albeit in a language I don’t recognize (and apparently Google Translate doesn’t, either).

It sounds somewhat like Latin, but my first guess is that it’s made up by the author:

koiuyyle en rennas ollyucent ein

annasent tassect, tenannt scycil un reccant.

Ryuent zann einnas unn ollrac.

Tenass, aven, aveyass allya Olyuil.

Somet nac, un sol onset.

Sol onset.

While I don’t understand the full meaning of it, I might be able to “translate” certain words. “Scycil” sounds similar to “scythe,” or “cycle”; “ein” is “on” or “off” in German; “tenannt” is very similar to “tenant”; “reccant” is similar to “recant” (as in “withdraw” or “take back”); “aven” is similar to “aver,” which in Italian means “having”; and “tassect” sounds similar to “tesseract,” which is a four-dimensional cube (like in A Wrinkle in Time).

As to putting the whole thing together, I haven’t yet. Any help here?

If you explore the abovementioned “menu options,” “Altar” takes you here:

On that page, a godlike figure exhorts: “PLEDGE YOURSELF TO ME. I AM THE END. I AM THE BEGINNING. I AM EVERYTHING YOU ARE AND EVERYTHING YOU ARE NOT. OFFER UP YOUR MEAGER SOUL SO THAT I MAY PEER FURTHER INTO THE COSMOS’S DREAM.”

I’ll pass on the sacrifice, thanks. If you click on the “god,” it takes you back to the homepage.

“Sacrifice” is one of the creepier pages, because it consists of a red background with a “hooded” figure that seems to follow your mouse cursor around:

Perhaps that’s a reference to death? I don’t know. Finally, “Terminal Connect” takes you to this page:

Given that I’m interested in alternative networks and/or browsers, I was immediately intrigued when I heard about Blockstack, which its developers describe as “a new internet for decentralized apps.”

Blockstack uses the application layer of the traditional internet (the one you use every day, in other words), and offers tools for decentralized storage, authentication, and identity.

The apps are run through the Blockstack Browser, which you can also download from the site. (Note: if you want the Linux version, it’s a shell script.) Developers write the apps in JavaScript, and then plug into user-run APIs, cutting out the idea of central control points.

In a sense, this is similar to the Osiris system which I mentioned on an earlier post, Curious About Osiris? (i.e. there’s no central server or control point, and it operates in a decentralized manner). One major difference is that Blockstack is still actively being developed and maintained, and it will also eventually make use of cryptocurrencies and other technology.

At the moment, I’m not using the full browser, just the web app, which has limited functionality. Even so, the web app has several user-ready apps that you can try out, as well as several “token portfolio apps,” which you can log into via Blockstack.

Graphite, for instance (under the “user-ready apps”), is a decentralized, encrypted replacement for things like Google G-Suite and Microsoft Office. Aww man, but I already have LibreOffice! (I kid.)

Though I do use LibreOffice at home, there are times when I may not have access to it, or may want to try an alternative. With any of these apps, you merely sign in with Blockstack, and you’re all set (similar to syncing things with your Google account, if that’s what you’re accustomed to).

Like LibreOffice, MS Office, etc., Graphite has several different apps within it, called Documents, Sheets, Contacts, and Conversations:

Documents, for example, is a word processor, and sheets (in case you couldn’t tell) is a spreadsheet. The interfaces look a bit similar to things like Google Docs and Google Hangouts, but they’re very simple and, of course, decentralized.

One downside might be that if you don’t know anyone else who’s using Blockstack, there wouldn’t be anyone to have “conversations” with yet, but you can always let people know about it…

This is mostly based on my first experience with these, so I don’t yet have a full grasp of Blockstack’s capabilities. Nonetheless, my first impressions are very positive. Besides, every piece of software has beta versions, doesn’t it?

Well guys, keep up the good work. I think we need many more decentralized browsers and apps, and this is a great start.

Those of you who spend a reasonable amount of time on the dark web may have come to the conclusion that it’s boring (contrary to popular belief!). I mean, just look at this one:

No offense, DOXBIN; please don’t dox me, OK? While I don’t necessarily think that it’s boring, there seem to be just as many (if not more) strange sites on the clearnet.

Case in point: I recently came across the site angusnicneven.com, which appears to be a portfolio site for the artist Angus Nicneven (also called “Terminal 00”). I only say “appears” because if it is a portfolio site, it’s the most bizarre (and awesome) one I’ve ever seen.

On its homepage, the site looks like this:

It has a constant buzzing noise in the background, which can get grating after awhile, but there’s always the mute button for that. Besides, it definitely contributes to the overall atmosphere.

Across the top of the page, you’ll see some scrolling text that reads, “Terminal 00 may be traversed by way of probes. Current probe classification: 00 Penetrate the depths of our pain with that, dear traveler.”

OK, so where do I get a probe? Maybe he has them for sale….

Anyway, if you scroll further down the page, you’ll see some links to Angus’ bio and “portfolio,” if you will. Even these, however, aren’t what you’d normally expect from a portfolio site.

If you click on the “About” link, it takes you to this:

The image flickers like some kind of hazy TV transmission, which is a very nice touch. It’s almost as if Angus isn’t a human at all, but an A.I. of some kind (I’m sure that isn’t the case, but it fits the story!).

Below the photo, it says “Uploading relevant data now…

“Expect fragmented data (CoS is the cause).” Interestingly, if you click that link, it takes you to this disastrous looking page:

If you can’t read the text, it says, “Return. CoS Detected. This space is unstable. We will maintain for as long as we are able. Watchers are ineffective at this stage. Use signal [SOL onset] and awaken the constructs.”

Below that is some animated text that says “CoS is spreading and spreading and spreading…” endlessly. If you wait for this text to finish printing, you’ll eventually see a message that says, “Ahh, so you haven’t retreated yet? You must feel the same as I do. Any cost, even death, it’s irrelevant, right? For a probe only needs to probe, to plunge deeper and reveal truths. Well then let us probe further…”

The next page is called “Crossroad,” and looks like this:

That’s not the entire thing, but I wouldn’t want to give away the whole puzzle, would I? (In fact, I haven’t solved all of it yet.)

So what does all of this mean? I’m not entirely sure. The site does have an FAQ, which might explain some of it. One of the questions on the FAQ reads, “What is the purpose of this website?”

The answer says:

“There is no singular purpose to this website. Much like certain phrases or paragraphs in my writing, there is a multi-faceted purpose to it.

“Firstly, angusnicneven.com is my author website; I require such a thing to further my writing ambitions. Secondly, it is another way to give my nightmares a vector into your mind. That is to say, I can spread my warning further and by a different means AND have it spread faster than a non-released book will. Far from instant gratification, but much faster in comparison. Thirdly, it’s a creative outlet. It’s fun… sometimes.”

Well, I can’t argue with that!

There is one link that reads “Map,” but it’s basically a red herring, because all you see is this, plus an “error” message that disappears quickly:

There’s also a mysterious page called “Gathering,” which has this text:

This definitely reminds me of some of my favorite horror films. How did you know I was a fan?

Like I said earlier, this has nothing to do with the deep web and/or dark web; I just thought it was interesting, and fun!

If you’re interested in seeing more about this site, readers, let me know, and I’ll explore it further. I encourage you to do the same.

Those of you who are into the dark web (especially its more disturbing side) have surely heard many of the horror stories surrounding it – if that kind of thing interests you, anyway.

After spending more than two years on it, however, I can say that I’m certain many of those stories aren’t true. I’ve re-listened to them after getting a better understanding of how Tor (and its dark web contemporaries) work, and many times, the details don’t add up.

It’s a fairly long story, but the author, like me, had gone into the dark web to see what it was all about, and if you believe what he said, came out of the experience very scarred and with a lower opinion of humanity, so to speak.

Like the other horror stories, I have no idea if this one is true, but it was intriguing nonetheless. What was different about this particular story is that it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. The gist of it is that the author ventures through numerous Tor sites, and eventually makes his way into some that are much worse than anything you could find on publicly available link repositories.

I have spent some time in dark web chat rooms, and a few of them were filled with people I would not want as neighbors (to put it nicely). In theory, had I been curious and had enough bitcoin, they may have led me to some very sick sites. Contrary to popular belief, that’s not really what interests me anymore.

On Quora, I recently came across a similar story, which I can link you to here: What are some scariest dark web experiences? Not unlike the previous story, it involves the author joining some dark web chat rooms out of curiosity, and eventually making her way to some horrifying content – I’m seeing a pattern here!

The last story of this nature that comes to mind is also from Reddit, and is entitled “NSFW farm.avi.” Perhaps you’ve heard this one? It details a series of four videos, which apparently used to be on Tor. They depicted several people in a farm-like setting being tortured by being treated, more or less, like cattle, and being forced to wear pigs’ heads. Sound like American Horror Story at all?

Here, piggy, piggy, piggy…

I haven’t seen the actual video, but enough people claimed that it was real that it seemed believable (yeah, yeah, I know that doesn’t count as proof). After seeing that PsychoTube site, though, this story doesn’t seem so crazy! By the way, if anyone is a fan of Corpse Husband’s horror stories on YouTube, he does a great job of narrating this one: 3 MORE TERRIFYING DEEP WEB STORIES/DARK WEB Stories/Internet Experiences (Graphic)

All in all, it’s hard to say if any particular horror story is true without having experienced it yourself, but you can still enjoy them anyway.

I was looking at my stats the other day, and I noticed that people had been searching for the “Osiris Serverless Portal System,” which I mentioned on a few earlier posts.

What it is, in a nutshell, is software for creating web portals that are decentralized and don’t require a central server (hence the name). Part of the idea behind it (I think) is that opposed to standard forums you’d see on the clearnet, all users have the same rights. In other words, there aren’t mods, admins, and members; everyone has equal abilities.

The web portals are distributed, i.e. they are saved on many different computers throughout the Osiris network. Thus, if one machine fails, the data is still intact. If you’d like to download the software, visit Osiris – Downloads.

In some ways, it’s similar to Freenet, because of Freenet’s distributed data store. As Freenet says on their website, “Freenet is a distributed datastore, so once content is uploaded to Freenet, it will remain on Freenet forever, as long as it remains popular, without fear of censorship or denial of service attacks, and without needing to run your own web server and keep it online constantly.”

Likewise, content on Osiris remains there “forever,” so to speak, and you won’t need to run it on your own server. Osiris also emphasizes anonymity, which is another reason that I like it; you can create virtual “identities” to represent yourself on it. (This, too, is somewhat similar to Freenet.)

The portals you create can either be “monarchical” (controlled by you) or “anarchical” (controlled by everyone) – essentially, anyone can decide what to see or not see, and what to do.

It also has different apps you can install; for instance, there’s a YouTube clone.

Unfortunately, last I checked, the software hadn’t been updated since 2011, so while you can still download it, it isn’t being actively maintained! That’s disappointing, because it seemed like a great idea.

Freenet, as far as I know, is the closest existing software that’s actively being maintained, although there are some newer projects that I know of, called Blockstack and Substratum, which have similar concepts.

I have less experience with these, so it’s hard to compare them. They’ll probably be the subject of future posts.

Anyhow, I recommend checking out Osiris, if you’re just curious. If you have other questions, you know where to find me…